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BurmaNet News: January 28, 2000
- Subject: BurmaNet News: January 28, 2000
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 05:25:00
=========== The BurmaNet News ===========
January 28, 2000
Issue # 1449
=========================================
=========
Headlines
=========
International--
NATION: KAREN RESHUFFLE LEADERSHIP
ASIAN AGE: MUIVAH HELD BY POLICE IN THAILAND
THE ECONOMIST: GOD, WHAT AN ARMY
BORNEO BULLETIN: HOSPITAL SIEGE PUTS KARENS UNDER THAI MICROSCOPE
DEM ACTION PARTY (MALAY): ASEAN SHOULD REVIEW POLICY TOWARD BURMA
BANGKOK POST: CHUAN DENIES BLAME FOR SECURITY LAPSE
BANGKOK POST: ARMY COMMANDER GETS GENERAL ACCLAIM
IHT: THAI RESCUERS EXECUTED REBELS, WITNESSES SAY;
'WE SHOT FASTER' IN FIREFIGHT, OFFICIAL REPORTS
BANGKOK POST: REBELS WEREN'T EXECUTED
BANGKOK POST: MANEELOY SET FOR CLOSURE BY YEAR-END
BANGKOK POST: GOD'S ARMY HOLDING OUT AT BESIEGED JUNGLE CAMP
MIZZIMA: LEGAL AND SMUGGLING TRADE BETWEEN BANGLADESH AND BURMA
===
Inside Burma--
NLM (State press): EX-REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT OF NLD MEETS VOTERS
===
Editorial--
THE BURMA CAMPAIGN UK: GOD'S ARMY - GOD'S CHILDREN
NATION: CAN WE LIVE WITH USE OF EXCESS FORCE?
KNL: STATEMENT ON THE SEIZURE OF THE HOSPITAL IN
RATCHABURI, THAILAND BY KAREN SOLDIERS OF GOD'S ARMY
NY TIMES: LETTER--DESPERATE IN MYANMAR
BSDO: PROTESTS AND CEREMONIES FOR TEN MARTYRS BEING PLANNED IN CANADA
===
ADDENDUM: SPEECH BY JOHN RALSTON SAUL (With corrections)
=========================================
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
INTERNATIONAL
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
NATION: KAREN RESHUFFLE LEADERSHIP
24-hour siege.
By Yindee Lertcharoenchok
January 28, 2000
BURMA'S longest-standing Karen guerrilla group has for the first time in
decades reshuffled its leadership, replacing long-time chairman Gen Bo
Mya with one of his deputies and promoting younger officers to top
posts.
The election of the new 11-member executive committee of the Karen
National Union (KNU) took place on Wednesday as the 50-year-old group
held its Congress at a jungle hideout on the Thai-Burmese border,
opposite Thailand's Tak province.
KNU officers have expressed optimism that the leadership change would
''inject new life'' into Burma's last remaining armed ethnic group,
which has yet to strike a peace deal with the Burmese junta. Thai
officers hoped the change would help revive the peace talks between the
KNU and Rangoon.
Bo Mya, 73, who ruled as chairman for almost half the 50 years the
anti-Rangoon movement has been in existence, is now vice-chairman. Padoh
Ba Thin, 63, has been elected chairman while his former position of
general secretary goes to Padoh Mansha, who was Bo Mya's ex-secretary
and political adviser.
Tu Tu Lay is now joint secretary 1, David Takaplaw joint secretary 2,
David Thaw officer in charge of foreign affairs, and Roger (one name)
officer in charge of health and welfare.
Gen Tamalabaw has been elected general commander. Former vice-chairman
Brig Gen Shwe Saing takes charge of the transport and communications
department, Gen Kasedoh the forestry and mining department and Mahn Yin
Maung the alliance department.
In an interview with The Nation yesterday, the KNU governor for Tavoy
and Mergui districts, Padoh Kwe Htoo, denied speculation that the change
in leadership constituted ''a coup'' to topple the ageing chief. Kwe
Htoo said the new top brass was elected by the 115-member KNU Congress
which met from Jan 10 to 26. The Congress normally meets every four
years to review the movement's activities and set new policies.
Kwe Htoo agreed that the new executive committee comprises younger
leaders whom, he said, would ''help inject new life'' into the movement.
''At least half of the leaders are a new [KNU] generation,'' he stated.
The governor said that under the new leadership, the KNU would come up
with more active policies and activities including a plan to resume
peace talks in the future with the Burmese junta. ''But it [the
resumption of peace talks] also depends on the SPDC [the country's
ruling State Peace and Development Council],'' said the governor.
The KNU and the Burmese regime began negotiations in mid-1995, but talks
ground to a halt in January 1997 when the Karen group said it could not
accept Rangoon's demand for it to lay down arms. The junta, which has
struck a cease-fire deal with about 15 armed ethnic groups since 1989,
has allowed those groups to keep their weapons.
Once Burma's most powerful guerrilla movement, the KNU has suffered
serious political and military setbacks after its Manerplaw
headquarters, opposite Tak's Tha Song Yang district, was overrun by the
Burmese Army in early 1995. Two years later its 4th Brigade
headquarters, which was situated opposite Thailand's Kanchanaburi
province, was also taken by the Burmese troops.
Thai security and intelligence officials said the promotion of younger
leaders to key executive KNU positions was long needed especially after
the loss of two strategic positions in 1995 and 1997. Young KNU officers
had, in 1995, tried to persuade Bo Mya and other senior leaders to step
down, but the Congress later that year re-elected him the chairman.
One official said he believed the Burmese junta was watching the KNU
meeting with keen interest and waiting to see the outcome. He believed
Rangoon would certainly send representatives to probe the possibility of
resuming peace talks.
''KNU policies are certain to change. They [the group] can't stay on
without holding [peace] talks with the Burmese. At the same time, the
SPDC might also change its tough position against the KNU. Everything
will certainly change,'' insisted the official.
Like other KNU leaders, Kwe Htoo denied the group had any knowledge of
or played a part in the siege of the Ratchaburi Provincial Hospital by a
group of 10 heavily armed terrorists early this week.
Thai authorities believed the assailants were members of the God's Army
-- a small Karen messianic militia movement which sprang up after the
fall of the KNU's 4th Brigade -- and of the Vigorous Burmese Student
Warriors group. The latter raided the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok early
last October.
However, Thai security agencies have yet to identify the 10 gunmen who
were killed when anti-terrorist commandos stormed the hospital to rescue
the hostages and break the
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
ASIAN AGE: MUIVAH HELD BY POLICE IN THAILAND
Talks in jeopardy
"The Asian Age" Newspaper
Date-January 28, 2000.
By Rezaul H. Laskar
New Delhi, Jan. 27: The arrest of Thuingaleng Muivah, general secretary
Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, in
Thailand last week has put a question mark against the next round of the
peace talks between the Union government and the rebel group.
Mr. K. Padmanabhaiah, the centre's principal negotiator for the Naga
talks, was scheduled to meet Mr. Muivah and Mr. Isak Chisi Swu, the NSCN
(I-M) president, in Bangkok for discussions on January 29 and 30. This
would be the third round of talks between the NSCN (I-M) leadership and
Mr. Padmanabhaiah since the BJP-led government came to power year.
Mr. Muivah and his close associate I. Shimre were arrested at Bangkok
airport on January 19 on charges of entering Thailand on fake documents.
The duo had travelled to Bangkok from Karachi, and was using forged
South Korean passports. Mr. Muivah has been living abroad since the
1980s to avoid arrest. Home ministry sources said the incident had
"again proved that Pakistan was actively supporting" Indian militant
organizations. "This has also proved the ISI's link with Northeastern
rebel groups," they said.
The Naga talks have been under a cloud over the past few months
following differences, between the two sides on several key issues,
including the area covered by the cease-fire announced by the NSCN (I-M)
and the Union government in August 1997. The Centre maintains that the
cease-fire is limited to Nagaland, while the rebel group insists that is
should be extended to all Naga-inhabited areas of the Northeast. The
Centre's decision to remove its first principal negotiator. Mr. Swaraj
Kaushal, and appoint Mr. Padmanabhaiah in his place also has not gone
down well with the band outfit. The cease-fire is valid till July 31
this year. Officials in the home ministry said they had learnt about Mr.
Muivah's arrest on January 21, and the Union government had subsequently
contacted authorities in Thailand to obtain more information.
They refused to comment on the home ministry's future course of action
with regard to the peace talks. The Union government is in a piquant
situation following Mr. Muivah's arrest. It can not seek his
extradition-- there is no Interpol red corner notice against Mr. Muivah
and it would be embarrassing for the Centre to seek the extradition of a
rebel leader it has engaged in peace talks. At the same time, the Centre
cannot bring pressure on the Thai authorities for his release.
Meanwhile, agency reports from Bangkok said Mr. Muivah was being held
in Bangkok's Klong Prem prison. His case is likely to come up for
hearing in a court on February 1. The reports quoted a police source as
saying that Mr. Muivah could only be charged "for entering the country
with fake documents". The Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review
also reported its latest edition that Muivah had acknowledged in
interviews with the magazine to organizing, bank robberies, ambushes of
Indian Army patrols and assassinations of Indian and Naga opponents.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
THE ECONOMIST: GOD, WHAT AN ARMY
January 29, 2000
RATCHABURI
AT DAWN on January 24th, ten armed young men slipped across
Thailand's border with Myanmar and hijacked a bus. They seemed confused,
unsure of where to go, and anxious to get medical attention for comrades
who had been injured in several days of fighting with Myanmar government
troops. Eventually the hijackers descended on a hospital in the
provincial capital of Ratchaburi. They stormed the emergency room and
surgical ward, trapping inside about 900 patients and staff.
It soon emerged that the kidnappers were members of God's Army, a
fundamentalist Christian group based in a region of Myanmar populated by
ethnic Karen. The group had broken away from the main Karen guerrilla
organisation, which has long been fighting for a separate state. The
figureheads of this splinter group are 12-year-old cheroot-smoking
twins, Johnny and Luther Htoo. The black-tongued twins, who are supposed
to possess divine fighting powers, stayed in the jungle with other
followers.
Among the group, however, were three or more of the student rebels who
had seized the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok last October. They had been
set free in return for releasing their hostages unharmed. They had taken
refuge with God's Army in Myanmar.
In the confusion within the hospital, many of the hostages managed to
escape, and several policemen were able to enter, disguised as patients
or doctors. One genuine doctor successfully completed a brain operation
on a ten-year-old child.
When the group announced their demands, it became clear that, in
addition to wanting doctors to treat their wounded, they were angry with
Thailand's soldiers. Since the hostage-taking at the embassy, the Karen
and other rebel groups fighting Myanmar's military regime have been
prevented from using Thailand as a sanctuary. Thai forces have shelled
God's Army positions to keep the guerrillas inside Myanmar.
Within 24 hours, the hostage drama was over. Thai commandos moved in and
killed all ten rebels. Some were shot in the head at close range, though
they offered no resistance, said some of the hostages. Thai military
officials denied that the kidnappers had been murdered.
The fierce military response was very different from that in the embassy
incident, for several reasons. The first was outrage at the group's
capture of a hospital. The embassy was technically part of Myanmar and
the gunmen who took it over were described by a Thai minister at the
time as "students fighting for democracy". But this group was seen as
rag-tag jungle fighters. Thailand's prime minister, Chuan Leekpai,
described the incident as an ungrateful act by a group that had been
taking shelter on Thai soil.
Another reason was deterrence. The Thai government took a chance when it
released the hostage-takers last October, hoping it would not provoke
more incidents. Now that it has, a firm stand was needed. "It is a
statement from Thailand that you can no longer do this kind of thing to
us," said the prime minister's national security adviser, Prasong
Soonsiri. The incident seems to have had some effect across the border:
on January 27th, the main Karen guerrilla group announced it had a new,
more moderate leader.
Yet it is far from an end to Thailand's Myanmar-inspired troubles.
Thailand must still cope with the 100,000 or so refugees and about half
a million illegal workers who have crossed into the country from
Myanmar. It has also witnessed a recent flood of cheap drugs from next
door. The Thai authorities used to see the ethnic insurgents that
operated along the border as something of a buffer against Myanmar's
security forces. Clearly, no more. Thailand is taking firm control of
the frontier. And those Thais who want to engage the Myanmar regime in a
more direct manner will have been strengthened in their convictions.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
BORNEO BULLETIN: HOSPITAL SIEGE PUTS KARENS UNDER THAI MICROSCOPE
January 27, 2000
TAKAULANG, Thailand - The bloody end to a hospital hostage siege
this week marks a hardening of Thai attitudes towards guerrillas and
refugees from decades of internal military conflict in Myanmar, much of
it centred along the mountainous Thai-Myanmar border.
Once, ethnic minority insurgents held large swathes of territory along
the frontier and were valued as a buffer between Thai and Myanmar
forces. But as the rebels' military fortunes have waned in recent years,
so has their use to Thailand.
Now two rash terrorist acts in four months involving Myanmar rebels has
served to tighten the screw on remaining insurgents and the more than
100,000 refugees - mostly ethnic Karen villagers - encamped on Thai
soil.
The 10 insurgents who captured a provincial hospital on Monday in
Ratchaburi in western Thailand were identified as members of God's Army,
a splinter Karen group led by twin 12-year-old boys, and an even tinier
band of dissidents, the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors.
At Takaulang village, seven kilometres from the Myanmar border, where
God's Army has its domain, Karens from Myanmar used to play soccer
matches against Thai border police.
Now, Karens who have settled in the Thai village hide in the jungle,
fearing likely deportation to their military-run homeland.
The crackdown started after the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok was stormed
Oct 1 by five members of the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors demanding
democracy in their military-run homeland.
They captors were given safe passage by Thailand to the Myanmar border
to ensure the release of dozens of hostages.
The rebels found shelter with the God's Army, whose 200 fighters believe
twins Johnny and Luther Htoo have magical powers that make them
invincible in battle.
On Oct 9, one week after the siege, 148 Karens, including children, were
rounded up and their simple houses then dismantled by Thai troops,
villagers said. Today, only ashes and bamboo remain.
The apparent reason was that they did not have identification papers.
The hospital seizure this week will only increase perceptions the
refugees pose a security threat.
"The Karens will be carefully watched," Chaiyachok Julsiriwongse,
associate professor at the department of international relations at
Chulalongkorn University.
"After a second incident like this, I don't think the Thai people will
allow the government to sit by and do nothing," Chaiyachok said.
Myanmar dissident groups in Thailand and the Karen National Union, the
mainstream rebel force that has been fighting the Myanmar government for
over 50 years, rapidly moved to distance themselves from the hospital
siege that triggered outrage among Thais.
Meanwhile, Altsean, an Asian group which lobbies against Myanmar's
military regime, appealed to Thailand to show compassion and continue
humanitarian assistance for the refugees.
Thailand says it will still let Karens fleeing battle find temporary
shelter, as long as they were unarmed.
But Gen Mongkol Ampornpisit, Thai supreme commander, warned that a deal
made with hospital raiders during the siege that Thai forces would not
to shell God's Army inside Myanmar to keep them off Thai soil was off.
Since the raiders had refused to surrender, Thailand was at liberty to
fire on them again, he was quoted as saying by the Bangkok Post.
At Takaulang village, where Johnny and Luther Htoo used to sneak over
the border to come and watch movies at the local open-air cinema, the
days of peaceful coexistence with the rebels are certainly over.
But sympathy remains among Thai residents for the Karen villagers,
caught in the crossfire of battle and changing Thai policy.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
DEM ACTION PARTY (MALAY): ASEAN SHOULD REVIEW POLICY TOWARD BURMA
Democratic Action Party of Malaysia, Petaling Jaya, in English 27 Jan
00
Text of "press statement" by Teresa Kok, DAP (Democratic Action Party)
International and NGO affairs secretary and MP for Seputeh in Kuala
Lumpur on 27th January; published in English by Petaling Jaya Democratic
Action Party of Malaysia web site on 27th January
The recent hostage-taking situation at Ratchaburi Hospital, Thailand, by
Burmese dissidents again highlights the desperation faced by the
opponents of the Burmese junta.
While I do not condone terrorism and do not agree with the approach
taken by these dissidents, I regret that 10 dissidents' lives have to be
lost to capture the world's attention on the pathetic situation in
military-ruled Burma.
Although their terrorist action was not sanctioned by the NLD [National
League for Democracy] and NGOs that work on Burma issues, it is clear
that the motive of their action was to highlight the long-standing
frustrated situation in Burma to the international community,
particularly the ASEAN countries.
I am concerned that if ASEAN do not step in soon to mediate, this form
of terrorism may well spread to other neighbouring nations, Malaysia
included. This is not a situation we either want nor encourage.
With this in mind, I call on ASEAN member countries and the
international community to consider to intervene into the problem in
Burma, and to impress upon the Burmese military regime to recognise the
wishes of the people of Burma for political reforms. ASEAN is in the
best position to play a mediating role in the internal conflict of
Burma.
The heads of government of ASEAN should bring up the problem faced by
the Burmese in the coming ASEAN finance ministers meeting in Seri
Bagawan on 25th to 26th February 2000. They should censure the
authoritarianism and cruelty of the SPDC regime and review their
"Constructive Engagement" policy with Burma.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
BANGKOK POST: CHUAN DENIES BLAME FOR SECURITY LAPSE
January 28, 2000
Opposition seizes on intelligence failure
Wut Nontharit and Ampa Santimatanedol
The government should resign to show responsibility for the intelligence
failure that enabled God's Army to enter the country and seize
Ratchaburi regional hospital, the opposition said yesterday.
Intelligence should have been improved after dissidents, including some
of the Ratchaburi raiders, seized the Burmese embassy on Oct 1, said
Adisorn Piangket, a New Aspiration deputy leader.
"What have the intelligence agencies been doing?" he said, accusing the
government of presiding over two rebel threats to security in four
months.
The rebels must have passed police checkpoints on their way from the
border to Ratchaburi town, he said, and it was strange the government
had been unable to reveal the identities of the 10 killed in Tuesday's
rescue mission.
Mr Chuan said intelligence units had kept their supervisors informed of
developments. There had been reports God's Army was under Burmese attack
and could be wiped out.
But the hospital raid was beyond expectation, Mr Chuan said. It would
have been hard to guard against an overnight decision made by the
rebels.
Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart said there was only one police
checkpoint on the 70km stretch from the border to Ratchaburi. Border
Patrol Police and the army had checkpoints close to the border, Maj-Gen
Sanan said. However, the border was long and inspections may not be
thorough.
The minister said the guerrillas took a regular bus which was full of
locals so the police did not stop it.
Denying the government was seeking to conceal the identities of the
rebels, he said one had been found to be Beda or Preeda or Nui, who had
taken part in the embassy raid.
Authorities were waiting for relatives or friends of the rebels to help
identify the other nine, he said.
Maj-Gen Sanan said he described Beda as a dissident student at the time
of the embassy raid because that was his status at the Maneeloy holding
centre in Ratchaburi.
Beda lost that status after a warrant for his arrest was issued for his
role in the embassy raid. Since he was part of an armed incursion, he
was a terrorist.
"If Beda was still a student, he would be alive now," Maj-Gen Sanan
said.
Mr Chuan said the government had no choice but to eliminate
heavily-armed intruders. "We should be proud of our rescue team for
saving all the hostages instead of questioning if our actions were
right," he said.
The majority supported the action and there was no reason to resign.
"But someone may want us to fail to give him grounds to attack
us."Vichet Kasemthongsri, a Ratchaburi MP, said refugee policy should be
reviewed in light of the embassy and hospital crises.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
BANGKOK POST: ARMY COMMANDER GETS GENERAL ACCLAIM
January 28, 2000
Wassana Nanuam
The successful operation against God's Army rebels who siezed Ratchaburi
hospital was a major topic of discussion among foreign military
dignitaries at the Armed Forces Day ceremony at army headquarters.
Several military attaches praised army chief Gen Surayud Chulanont for
the way the operation was executed, without casualties to the security
force.
"Excellent," one foreign military attache was heard to say as he was
welcomed by the army chief at the auditorium's entrance.
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, the defence minister, was heard praising
Gen Surayud in conversation with former army chief Gen Wimol Wongwanich.
"I've confidence in the army commander, who said that at a range of
10-25m his special forces men would not miss shots to the head," Mr
Chuan said.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
IHT: THAI RESCUERS EXECUTED REBELS, WITNESSES SAY;
'WE SHOT FASTER' IN FIREFIGHT, OFFICIAL REPORTS
International Herald Tribune (Neuilly-sur-Seine, France)
January 27, 2000, Thursday
By Seth Mydans; New York Times Service
BANGKOK
A mood of triumph in Thailand after the quick, clean end of a hostage
standoff at a hospital was soured Wednesday by questions over whether
some of the 10 Burmese gunmen had been executed after surrendering to
security forces.
Local newspapers published accounts from witnesses saying that some of
the hostage-takers had been shot in the head Tuesday after being told to
strip off their clothes. One paper published a photograph of four bodies
in their underwear, all of whom appeared to have been shot in the head.
The concerns were boosted by the fact that none of the hundreds of
patients and medical workers who had been held hostage for 22 hours in
the town of Ratchaburi had been hit by gunfire, suggesting the absence
of any intense firefight.
Officials strongly denied that any of the men had been executed.
''A well-trained commando normally will shoot to kill, especially with a
head shot, because if hostage-takers with dangerous weapons are not
killed immediately they could still harm hostages,'' said an army
spokesman, Lieutenant General Sanan Kajornklam. ''No commando will
target the body, because terrorists could be wearing bulletproof
vests.''
Military officials said nine of the hostage-takers were killed
immediately within the main hospital building. They said the 10th
attempted to escape but was gunned down on the hospital grounds shortly
afterward.
The Thai military, meanwhile, said it had resumed shelling the hilltop
base of the ethnic Karen rebel band, led by twin 12-year-old boys, that
staged the raid from across the border with Burma.
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, asked by reporters why not one of the
hostage-takers survived, said: ''The reason is easy. We shot faster than
they did.''
He added: ''If some Thai officials had died in this operation, the
questions would change to, 'Why did we send our officials to die?'''
The Thai police have faced criticism in the past for summarily executing
people they arrest as criminals. This is not the first time that there
were no survivors in a confrontation with security forces.
When the 10 bodies were displayed to reporters Tuesday, all were wrapped
in white sheets knotted around the neck so that they looked like
faceless dolls. Bloodstains suggested that at least some had been shot
in the head.
Newspapers reported Wednesday that all 10 were then buried without
further examination.
According to newspaper accounts, the dawn attack on the poorly organized
gunmen at the Ratchaburi Provincial Hospital, 120 kilometers (75 miles)
west of Bangkok, had been well prepared.
As many as 40 commandos infiltrated the hospital during the night
dressed as patients or medical workers. They hid weapons in a kitchen
and moved quietly among the hostages, telling them to turn off their
lights and lie on the floor. Sharpshooters and observers with two-way
radios took up positions on the perimeter. Reporters were moved away
from the scene with the ruse of a news briefing.
At about 5:30 A.M., two percussion grenades at one corner of the
compound created a diversion and signaled the start of the raid.
''Some of the hostages cried,'' according to an unidentified woman
quoted in the Bangkok Post. ''The rebels did not return fire. I thought
they would just arrest the rebels because they had surrendered.''
The newspaper quoted an unnamed hospital official who said she looked
out from a hiding place and saw the police holding rebels at gunpoint.
''They were shot in the head after they had been told to undress and
kneel down,'' she said.
The Nation, another English-language daily newspaper, quoted a hostage
named Decha Yoowong, 32, as saying he thought some of the gunmen might
have surrendered.
As they crouched together, he said, ''the hostages asked them not to put
up any resistance, with some of them agreeing to that.'' The gunmen then
walked into a hallway, and it appeared that they were preparing to give
themselves up.
''The commandos sprayed bullets into the room, shattering all the
windowpanes,'' he said. ''None of the hostages were hurt. None of us saw
any of the terrorists being shot because it was still dark.'' Like
similar reports in other newspapers, however, these accounts were
displayed modestly on inside pages.
Interior Minister Sanan Kajornprasart, commenting on the gunmen's death,
said, ''They all deserved it, since they've brought much trauma and
suffering to Thai people.''
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
BANGKOK POST: REBELS WEREN'T EXECUTED
January 28, 2000
Anucha Charoenpo
Police deny they tied the wrists of the God's Army guerrillas or that
they forced the raiders to strip and kneel before shooting them.
What appeared in a photograph to be binding on the wrists of one of them
was a talisman and some electric cable, Pol Gen Pracha Promnok, the
national police chief, said.
The cable was applied after the guerrilla had been killed to enable
police to lift the body to check there were no booby-traps underneath
him, Pol Gen Pracha said.
Photographs of the bodies in Khao Sod newspaper on Tuesday were taken
while the bodies were being taken out and prepared by rescue workers.
The clothes had been removed from the bodies for the purposes of medical
examination, he said. Police could not have ordered them to strip while
they were still armed and in a position to attack the assault party.
Police had acted in self-defence and had not over-reacted, he said.
Pol Maj-Gen Chalermchart Sitanont, deputy commissioner of Region 7,
assigned to oversee the examination of the corpses, said fingerprints
would be taken to establish their identities.
Pol Col Pracha Vichairak, deputy commander of Ratchaburi police, said
the dead rebels' clothes were removed to make sure they did not have any
explosives attached to their bodies.
An inquiry has been set up to find out who released the photos showing
the dead rebels in their underwear to Khao Sod. A police source said the
scene had been closed to the media. Only police were present.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
BANGKOK POST: MANEELOY SET FOR CLOSURE BY YEAR-END
US agrees to take in 1,500 students
Yuwadee Tunyasiri
The Maneeloy holding centre in Ratchaburi is likely to be shut down by
the end of this year, as all Burmese students there are expected to be
resettled in a third country by then.
National Security Council chief Kachadpai Burusphat made the
announcement yesterday after meeting Jahanshah Assadi, regional
representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and
Jeffrey Rook, refugee affairs coordinator of the American embassy.
Mr Assadi spoke of the current status of Burmese students under the care
of the UNHCR. He said previously there were 800 students with "person of
concern" status under UNHCR care in Bangkok.
Of these, 500 had been sent to Maneeloy centre after reporting to the UN
agency.
He estimated there are about 1,200 Burmese students hiding in Bangkok.
These students are regarded as illegal immigrants and will be arrested
when found.
Mr Rook confirmed the United States will co-operate by taking about
1,500 Burmese students for resettlement this year.
With a promise from Australia and other countries to accept students, at
least 2,000 will be resettled in a third country.
Mr Kachadpai expressed uneasiness with the UNHCR regional representative
over the body giving person of concern status to people too easily,
adding to Thailand's problems.
He said these people were mostly hostile to the governments of the
countries they came from and were regarded by Thailand as illegal
immigrants.
However, with the person of concern status they may freely conduct
activities threatening the country's law and order, he added.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
BANGKOK POST: GOD'S ARMY HOLDING OUT AT BESIEGED JUNGLE CAMP
Johnny said to have fled with the twins
(January 28, 2000)
Wassana Nanuam
God's Army's jungle base at Kamaplaw has not been over-run, despite
reports to the contrary, army chief-of-staff Gen Montrisak Boonkong said
yesterday.
A Burmese government force had, however, taken a Karen National Union
camp at Ban Mae Phia Lek, opposite Ban Khok Mu and the Khao Chong
Krachom border pass in Suan Phueng district, Ratchaburi.
A report said the Kamaplaw camp was attacked late on Tuesday following
days of heavy shelling. The report, quoting a KNU officer, said Johnny
and Luther Htoo, the 12-year-old twins who purportedly lead the rebels,
disappeared during the attack.
An army source said yesterday that the 200-strong God's Army force
protecting Kamaplaw was still able to withstand heavy attacks. From a
border patrol police position at Hill 1000 at Khao Chong Krachom,
soldiers of God's Army could be seen still well entrenched, he said. The
source said Johnny, or Kyaw Ni, a Burmese student who took part in the
seizure of the Burmese embassy in Bangkok in October, and the young
twins had fled Kamaplaw believing the camp would soon be over-run, but
it had been kept secret so the defenders' morale would not suffer.
Johnny, the student, had not taken part in the Ratchaburi hospital
seizure but sent Beda, also known as Preeda or Nui, instead. Beda was
killed along with nine other guerrillas.
"In fact, Beda did not want to come because he was about to marry his
girl friend, but God's Army insisted that he act as the guide. Johnny
was fortunate to have escaped death," the source said.
The source confirmed one of the 10 rebels killed was Beda's girl friend.
He said the Burmese military attache had reported to Rangoon confirming
that Johnny was not among the dead.
Supreme Commander Gen Mongkol Ampornpisit, when asked whether Johnny was
still alive, said, "Let's not pay attention to him." He also downplayed
the possibility of God's Army taking revenge on Thai targets.
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MIZZIMA: LEGAL AND SMUGGLING TRADE BETWEEN BANGLADESH AND BURMA
By Our Reporter, Mizzima News Group
Dhaka, January 27, 2000
Between period January 1999 to January 2000, there has been adverse
balance of trade between Burma and Bangladesh. According to revenue
records of Taknef, a border town in Bangladesh, worth of goods exported
to Burma by Bangladesh from January 1999 to January 2000 was Taka 3,
272, 400 and from Burma to Bangladesh the worth 291, 227, 000. (One Taka
is equivalent exchange rate Burmese currency Kyat 7).
The goods that Bangladesh exported to Myanmar are cement, iron,
electronic goods, construction goods and goods that Myanmar exported to
Bangladesh are male/ female slippers, eatables, spices, onions, garlic,
beetle nuts, dry chilly, ginger and forest products.
The smuggling trade activities between the two countries are fast
increasing from year to year. The entry passage to Bangladesh is easy.
Rice, forest products, cosmetics, textiles, buffaloes, cows and
household utensils from Burma to Bangladesh worth monthly lakh 600 to
1000 Bangladesh Taka. These smuggled goods specially come through Arakan
State bribing the Army units and Army officers doing joint venture with
Bangladesh. Irrawaddy Delta is the second centre, Tennasarim Division in
Mon State is the third centre of smuggling.
Bangladesh is as big as Shan State but with population 130 million.
Bangladesh population is 3 times of Burma. Eatables, meat, bamboo, house
hold goods are insufficient for domestic consumption in Bangladesh. They
therefore buy from neighboring Burma, opening wholesale trading centres
for smuggled goods. Villages and small towns along the border town
Taknef are conduits for smuggling. There is no inquiry, no arrest if
told goods are for Bangladesh. Hundreds of smugglers of Bangladesh
origin are going and coming. There is clear understanding between
trading centres smuggling from both sides.
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INSIDE BURMA
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NLM: EX-REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT OF NLD MEETS VOTERS
YANGON, 26 Jan - Dr Ye Myint who resigned from
representative-elect from Kyangin Township
Constituency-2 and National League for Democracy
met voters and the public the the sports ground in
Kyangin Township this morning.
Dr Ye Myint said he had attended the National
Convention as a delegate of NLD. When Daw Suu Kyi
was released from house restriction, NLD
representatives had to leave the National
Convention under her absolute order.
Daw Suu Kyi's response to presentations submitted
by representatives-elect of Dedaye and
Taungdwingyi townships was against democracy
practices.
Members of NLD were not allowed to know the
decisions of higher-level members in advance.
They had to face the absolute power of NLD central
Who turned down their presentations.
Representatives also felt so disappointed to leave
the National Convention.
He also elaborated on Daw Suu Kyi's attempts to
block foreign investment, adding increase in the
foreign capital will lead to building of more
facilities required for national development.
He said formation of the ten-member committee and
perpetrations to call the Hluttaw are dangerous
acts; he left NLD as he would be included in the
persons causing the nation and the people trouble
as long as he was a member of the party.
Present were voters of the constituency,
ex-members of NLD, observers who are not from the
government bodies and the people totalling 2,500.
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EDITORIALS
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THE BURMA CAMPAIGN UK: GOD'S ARMY - GOD'S CHILDREN
Patrons:
Sinead Cusack, Clive James, Miriam Karlin, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC,
Glenys Kinnock MEP,
Sue Lloyd-Roberts, Sir John Mortimer, Dr Jose Ramos-Horta, Rt. Hon Sir
David Steel
What leads young men and children to take such desperate action? As easy
condemnation of 'God's Army' mixes with a morbid celebration of the
deaths of the youths who fought under its banner, we should at least
have the humanity to ask why?
It is absolutely clear that Burmese pro-democracy groups and ethnic
nationality communities do not condone the actions taken by 'God's
Army'. But anyone who knows what is happening across the border inside
Burma will at least be able to understand how a traumatised people,
brutalised by a massive military machine, can be pushed to such extreme
acts. Who knows the personal stories of those who were carried out of
the Ratchburi hospital in body bags? Where our own children go to
school, these young people would have had to fight hard for simple
survival; where our children come home each day to the security of their
families, Karen youngsters will have seen their villages burned and
their loved ones murdered. Let us not be so quick to judge. If we are
truly against violence it is our duty to understand that those who were
killed were themselves victims of violence for much of the brief time
they spent on this earth.
Recent news reports suggest that the youths treated the hostages well,
had no intention of harming anyone, did not fight back and according to
some witnesses were summarily executed after surrendering. Although we
understand Thailand's anger at the incident, it must also take its share
of the blame. In joining forces with the Burmese army in its fierce
attack on positions held by God's Army and Karen civilians along the
Thai-Burma border, the Thai 9th Infantry lit the fuse that led directly
to the taking of Ratchburi hospital. If you peel away only one layer of
the onion, it is clear that what on the surface might appear to have
been a simple act of terrorism was in fact an appeal of the most
desperate and human kind - for an end to the bombing.
However, ultimate responsibility for this bloody event must be levelled
at its architects - Burma's dictators sitting comfortably in their
Rangoon villas, watching from a safe distance as the tragedy they wrote
played itself out. Half a million ethnic nationality people, have been
forced from their homes by the Burmese Army, their villages destroyed,
their women systematically raped in a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign.
Amnesty International has reported that:
"The Burmese army has devastated the lives of thousands of Shan, Karen
and Karenni people by targeting them simply because of their ethnicity
or perceived political beliefs. Many have been killed, others tortured,
and thousands have fled to neighbouring countries? The military have
forced thousands of civilians, including children, to work on massive
building projects..."
Karen refugees tell of:
"Village burnings, constant demands for forced labour, looting of food
and supplies, torture and killings by the military...Thousands of Karen
villagers have also been forced off their land, unable to farm and
provide for their families."
The real tragedy of yesterday's events is the story that isn't being
told and the questions that aren't being asked. What terrible atrocities
must this small child-led army have endured to resort to such an extreme
action? The world must quickly start asking the right questions - they
will find the answers to all of them lie with the Generals in Rangoon.
For more information contact:
TBC: 0171 281 7377 or bagp@xxxxxxxxxx
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NATION: CAN WE LIVE WITH USE OF EXCESS FORCE?
January 28, 2000
The government was stunned this week by the criticisms of the way the
security forces disposed of the 10 God's Army rebels during Tuesday's
lightning rescue operation at the Ratchaburi regional hospital centre.
How quickly things change. Initially there had been nothing but
heartfelt praise for the operation and the rescue of the hundreds of
patients and hospital staff without any of them getting hurt.
Criticisms centre on allegations by some hostages that the rebels were
slaughtered needlessly. Hostages claim the rebels put up little
resistance, some had put up their arms in surrender, yet still all were
shot dead by members of the army's special forces and elite police
anti-terrorist units. The public were shocked, to say nothing of the
shell-shocked hostages experiencing the so-called Stockholm Syndrome of
sympathising with their captors. But a hostage rescue demands decisive
action from commandos with only a split second to react when they come
upon the hostage takers.
The God's Army Karen and their Burmese student allies may be engaged in
a just struggle against the Rangoon military junta. But they became
terrorists the moment they took the patients and medical staff of the
Ratchaburi hospital hostage at gunpoint. For the government and brave
men who risked their lives to storm the hospital there was no other
alternative but to treat them as such.
The government made the right decision to order the rescue operation
once the rebels refused to lay down their arms. Letting them go free as
they did the Burmese embassy raiders, some of whom also took part in
this hospital siege, would only ensure future acts of terrorism, which
almost inevitably would result at some stage in the loss of Thai
civilian life.
Once the decision was made, the rebels' fate was sealed. The training of
anti-terrorist units the world over is to shoot first. Once a terrorist
target is identified he has to be taken out. This ensures he has no
chance of firing his weapon or detonating explosives, which can be done
even with raised hands, because the safety of the hostages and the
rescuers comes first.
About the only thing unacceptable in a hostage rescue is the summary
execution of hostage-takers subdued without deadly force. Witnesses
claim this is what happened to some of the rebels. One said she saw
commandos disarm a number of rebels, order them to strip down to their
underwear, tie their hands behind their back and lead them into a room
from which shots were heard soon afterward.
The allegation was underlined by photographs in Khao Sod daily showing
the corpses of the rebels, most of them near naked and one with his
hands tied behind his back. The security forces said stripping the dead
guerrillas was necessary to discover any weapons that may still have
strapped to their bodies. That makes sense. But if they were already
dead, why tie their hands behind their backs?There has been no
satisfactory answer to this. If the allegation is true that they were
executed it was indeed cruel and unnecessary. Even in war the enemy
cannot be disposed of in this way. And then the authorities did not help
their case by covering up the bodies and hurriedly sealing them up at a
nearby temple. A full autopsy, which one official claims has already
taken place although this is questionable given the short time
available, would establish how they died-whether they were shot at point
blank range while kneeling on the floor.
Short of this, there will always be the suspicion, here and overseas,
that the rebels were executed as a message to anyone else considering
similar action. Some may see nothing wrong with this, but it is uncalled
for, to say the least. More importantly, it raises the disturbing moral
question which we all must ponder of what sort of society it is in which
we want to live.
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NY TIMES: LETTER--DESPERATE IN MYANMAR
January 28, 2000
To the Editor:
Re "For Inept Band of Burmese Rebels, Only Death Was Certain" (news
article, Jan. 26): There was a dearth of discussion about the conditions
in Myanmar, formerly Burma, that have led children and peaceful farmers
to take up arms against a brutal military government.
I lived for a year with the peaceful ethnic Karen people. They have
endured forced labor and relocation, torture and rape under one of the
most oppressive governments in the world. Facing increasing military
pressure from both sides of the border, in Thailand and Myanmar, it
should be unsurprising that acts of desperation like the seizure of a
hospital in Thailand that you reported take place.
There are now 100,000 Karen refugees in Thailand and 300,000 living as
internally displaced persons within Myanmar. The real story of these
people lies in their suffering, not simply their random acts of
desperation.
PETER KLATSKY
New York, Jan. 27, 2000
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KNL: STATEMENT ON THE SEIZURE OF THE HOSPITAL IN
RATCHABURI, THAILAND BY KAREN SOLDIERS OF GOD'S ARMY
Karen National League
Based on the international and local news media(BBC,AP, Bangkok Post),
the following is a chronology of what we believe (this might change
later as we get more updates) to be some of the main events that lead
up to the seizure
of the hospital and the aftermath.
The SPDC increased their usual atrocities and oppression of Karen
non-combatants in the Tavoy area due to the combination of the usual dry
season increase in fighting and their desire to punish God's Army for
harboring the perpetrators of the Burmese embassy takeover about 3
months ago.
SPDC troops, apparently in collusion with the Thai 9th Infantry
Division, crossed into Thai soil to
outflank God's Army. This caused God's Army to plant
land mines (in the poorly marked Burma-Thai border) to
prevent the SPDC from doing this again. Four Thai
soldiers were killed as a result of stepping on these
land mines. The Thai 9th Infantry Division retaliated
by bombarding the area where God's Army and some
internally displaced persons (IDPs) were. This
resulted in the death of about 200-300 Karens.
Because of the above bombardment and what God's Army personnel saw as
other unjust treatments such as the refusal of some local Thai
authorities in the area refusing to treat injured Karens, and not
offering refuge to civilians, but instead, pushing them back to Burma,
God's Army personnel seized the hospital in Ratchaburi.
This seizure resulted in about 200 innocent Thais
becoming hostages with God's Army demanding that the 9th Infantry
Division stop the shelling to prevent further killings of IDPs, and
redress of other issues that they saw as unjust. It must be pointed out
that overall, the Thai nation and people as a whole have been very
sympathetic and understanding of the plight and situation of the Karens
(both refugees and IDPs). It is only certain individuals and groups that
are making life difficult for the refugees and IDPs.
The Thais seeing the seizure of the hospital as a violation of their
sovereignty had their commandos
storm the hospital to attempt a hostage rescue.
According to the local Thai authorities at the scene,
ten God's Army soldiers were killed while no hostages
were harmed.
It is the policy of the Karen National League to abhor and condemn any
situation where combatants/authorities through specific targeting or
gross callousness subject innocent civilians to lethal force for
military or political aims whether they be SPDC, Karens, concerned
authorities, or anyone.
Karen National League
Policy Affairs Department
2000 Jan 26
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BSDO: PROTESTS AND CEREMONIES FOR TEN MARTYRS BEING PLANNED IN CANADA
January 27, 2000
Demonstration against Thai government's act of summary execution on ten
Burmese freedom fighters will be held in front of the Consulate General
of Thailand, Vancouver, Canada, on January 28, 2000 at 3 PM. The
demonstration is now being organized by Burmese Student's Democratic
Organization (Vancouver) along with the Burmese Democratic Organization
and Canadian Karen Community.
Contact:
Activities in Vancouver- Htay Aung at (604) 873-1740
Activities in Toronto- Htun Htun OO at (416) 461-9298
Activities in Ottawa- Toe Kyi at (613) 567-1610
Or overall activities info- Tin Mg Htoo at (519) 686-4745
Information Department
Burmese Students' Democratic Organization (Canada)
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ADDENDUM: SPEECH BY JOHN RALSTON SAUL (With corrections)
1999 JOHN HUMPHREY FREEDOM AWARD CEREMONIES.
MONTREAL, DECEMBER 10, 1999
27 January 2000
It seems for me, that every time I speak about Burma -it's been 20 years
now- I have to be cautious. I come, as many of us do here, from a
country in which human rights and freedom of speech mean something that
is clearly defined. There are some flaws in our system. Some things are
missing. There are mistakes and weaknesses, but what we mean by human
rights and freedom of speech is reasonably clear to all of us.
Let's for a moment turn ourselves towards people who live in a different
situation, one in which human rights and freedom of speech are not as
well defined. They live in some degree of anarchy. Let's turn to them
with modesty and restraint. Individuals like Min Ko Naing and Dr.
Cynthia Maung do not need our sympathy, our emotions, our love, our
lessons; or indeed the certainties and opinions that emerge from our
comfort. They need our respect. We need to give them our admiration. We
need to be ready to put ourselves beside them, even in our comfortable
situ ation, and as Mr. Allmand, President of ICHRDD, said, to defend,
even if it is just a little, their rights, those rights which do not
exist at this moment.
It is important to show our inability to understand their personal
strength, mainly because we have not lived their situation, though some
people in this hall may have lived it. People from Canada, the United
States or Europe generally never experience that reality. We cannot
imagine the lives they are living. Many of us may have witnessed their
reality simply by visiting their country. For example, I've just
visited Kosovo. Indeed, during the 80's I used to visit Burma. But
visiting a country is not living a situation. It isn't experiencing
imprisonment, or being an 'outcast' as is one of our recipients tonight.
So when I talk about Burma, I always do it with certain reservations,
mainly because the particular situation is so appalling.
Above all, I am very careful always not to put forward easy, clear,
certain answers to the obvious problems of Burma. I have a tendency to
force myself to speak with a certain pessimism about Burma. If you don't
speak with a certain pessimism, you are pretending that it is going to
be easier to deal with the problem than it is, or that it can be done in
a classical Canadian way, as opposed to the very difficult and complex
way which Dr. Cynthia knows far better than we do and Aung San Suu Kyi
knows far better than we do, sitting as she has in a form of prison for
years.
I'll give you a small example of why I am careful. Twenty years ago, I
started writing about, something which many of us knew even then: the
involvement of the military junta in Burma in the drug trade. For years
it was impossible to get any respectable newspaper or Western government
to pay attention to this fact. Why? In part because international
politics is international politics; there is a certain nobility to the
diplomatic profession and to the journalistic profession when they are
writing about diplomacy. On the other hand, drugs is police work and
that's not dignified. It belongs on another page in the newspapers or in
police headquarters, not in diplomatic headquarters. The result was that
it was for years impossible to get people to discuss openly the
involvement of Burmese leaders in some ways in the drug traffic.
Finally, about three or four years ago, there was a breakthrough.
Western governments began to say what they should have said long before.
They spoke about the self-evident involvement of the junta in the drug
business in various ways and at various levels. Only now have we begun
to talk about the fact that the repetitive war on drugs in the United
States and Canada is directly related to our policies on Burma. Most of
the heroin on our streets comes from Burma and the junta in Burma plays
some sort of role in that heroin getting this far.
If we in the West were serious about a war on drugs, we would be putting
an enormous effort, throughout the Western world, into working for a
change in Burma.
People say that it is hard to get public attention for the situation in
Burma because we have so few relations, we sell and buy so little,
people know so little. I can only suggest that every time we say the
word 'heroin', 'overdose', 'addiction', 'organized crime',
'crime-related' or 'death of youth in the street' we simply add three
words: 'Burmese military rulers'. It will then become far easier to
concentrate on the situation in Burma as being absolutely central to
the situation in our streets in the West. If Burmese military rulers is
too long, we could use the word SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration
Council), which I persist in using. SLORC sounds right for what we are
dealing with.
I would suggest also that when people talk or argue about the possible
benefits of investing in Burma -building a pipeline for example from
Burma to Thailand - and talk about the positive trickle down effects
(There were none. What there was was slave labour), I think it would be
interesting to do a bit of inclusive economic calculations. Even if
there were a trickle down effect, or a benefit from the pipeline (which
there was not), how much was it versus how much is the ongoing cost -
direct and indirect - of the heroin in our streets which comes directly
from Burma with some involvement from the military junta in that
country? How do they stack up against each other? Well, we know very
well. Even the most optimistic calculation would put the trickle down
effect at a few million. At its most modest, the heroin effect is
billions and billions of dollars.
There are an increasing number of respectable and responsible people in
the Western world who are saying we have got to be more rational and
productive in terms of Burma because we have been working at this for
quite a while (a few years) and getting nowhere. What we are doing, they
say, hasn't worked, so we must try something else. This is the classic
western frenetic approach
towards public policy; the administrative approach; the management
approach. It is very short term. You have got to produce results in the
quarter, in the year, in the five years. If you don't have results, then
you are failing. And if you are failing, you've got to do something
else. It is a very, very management view of reality and of course
reality has nothing to do with management, particularly in a situation
such as Burma. It isn't about quarterly reports. It isn't about showing
progress in the short term.
The choices of people like Dr. Cynthia and Min Ko Naing demonstrate to
us that it isn't about short term results. It's about being ready to
engage for the long term. Their approach and the approach of people like
them, Aung San Suu Kyi and others , who show that there is another view,
another approach which is not only possible but is probably the only
approach possible if you live inside a society like today's Burmese
society. Let me put it this way. They live with an astonishing tension
which pits courageous impatience (i.e. a willingness to take risks with
their lives), against a stubborn patience, (a readiness to take the time
necessary to get real change). On top of that they have a memory, a
positive memory, a real memory of what has come before. I didn't
experience or visit Burma during the first two decades of Ne Win's
regime from 1962 on. But I read a lot about it. What I saw and came to
know was the Burma of his last real decade, the eighties. I was there on
a regular basis. I wrote about it. What I'm saying is that the
Burma situation began not 10 years, not 20 years but 3 decades ago. The
first 26 years led to the explosion of 1988; the violence and the
deaths. Then, suddenly, Burma disappeared. It was as if a new country
and a new situation had popped out of an egg. We no longer had a memory
of those 26 years. Instead we had a new place called Myanmar. Suddenly
you couldn't push a button on a computer and see the history of the
preceding decades come up. I am joking, but only slightly. A new
situation, apparently, with new dictators, a new name - SLORC. And then
suddenly, 10 years later another new name - the SPDC (State Peace
Development Council). Apparently it was again a new situation. But of
course the SPDC is the SLORC and the SLORC is the military group which
came out of and is part of the 1962 regime of Ne Win. Soldiers grow old
but they replace each other even in situations like this. We are looking
at an extremely long-lived rogue regime, which alters itself by slight
degrees every 5, 10, 15 years. But it's the same regime, with the same
philosophy, and the same approach. Nothing fundamental has changed
since 1962.
Now, I hear phrases today from people who don't want to remember that it
goes back to 1962. They say such things as: 'our influence over Burma
is weak because we don't trade enough with them. If only we traded more,
then we would have more influence over them'. Well, there are many other
people who have traded with Burma since 1962, who have invested in Burma
in the 70s, in the 80s, over the last 10 years and today. Do any of them
have any influence over the regime? Is there any indication over the
last decades that by investing in Burma you would get any influence over
this regime? There isn't a single example of it. Japan, Thailand, nobody
has gained any influence by putting money into the country through
economic investment.
Secondly, I hear people trotting out the classic Western argument that
if we invested then there would be a trickle down effect that would
create a middle class. A middle class would lead to liberalization and
liberalization would lead towards democracy. You've all heard that sort
of argument. But it is an approach which has been tried several times
over the last 30 years.
Most recently it was tried in the years leading up to 1988 and of course
it was tried in a small way through the pipeline to which I have made
reference. Note: We were promised by the people building the pipeline
that it would have an effect, a trickle down effect. I quote from their
spokesperson, 'We believe our presence in the region is a force for
progress for economic and social development.' All right, the pipeline
is more or less built. Has there been progress? Has there been economic
development? Has there been a trickle down? No. There hasn't. We just
have to remember that it didn't work. It didn't turn out the way they
said it would turn out.
There is a third phrase I hear increasingly, which is : normalize
relations and then we'll sort of draw them out into a conversation. And
as a result of that the SLORC were allowed into ASEAN (Association of
South-East Asian Nations) and they've been in ASEAN for a while now and
what has changed? Have they been drawn out? Has ASEAN gained influence
over them? Has something changed for the better? No. Nothing has
changed. It is still exactly the same as it was in 1962, 1963, and I
won't go through the years since then one by one... Nothing has been
changed through this approach.
My own sense of this regime, and I have said this in various ways
before, is that it is a very peculiar regime. If you don't focus on this
peculiarity, it is very difficult to deal with it. It is an extremely
mediocre regime. These are mediocre people. They don't even have the
glorious ambitions of your classic dictators. They are not in it for the
money, except for small amounts of money. This is a very rich country,
Burma. They could be making hundreds and hundreds of millions of
dollars, billions of dollars, but they're not. They're making five
million dollars, 10 million dollars. It's very mediocre. And they're not
in it for the glory. It's very unglorious, their regime. It's very small
potatoes - except for the deaths of individuals. It's a regime of
mediocre people clinging to the minimum sort of power for small amounts
of money.
These are people who are willing to destroy their own country in order
to hang on. And there is something else about them which is rarer than
we believe. These are dictators who are willing to open fire on their
own citizens in order to hang on to power. Most unpleasant dictators are
willing to kill a few people, a few of their own citizens. But very few
of them are actually willing to kill thousands of their own citizens.
It's a relatively rare phenomenon.
This is what I call a rogue regime, not a real government at all. It has
no legitimacy, not by any standards. It doesn't have a legitimacy that
would come from Asian standards. It is completely at variance with Asian
ethical standards. It certainly doesn't even have the legitimacy of
being true to the realpolitik of international politics or of Asian
realpolitik. It isn't even a real regime by the standards of
dictatorships. It isn't even a real dictatorship. This idea of a rogue,
marginal, peculiar regime isn't new. After all, we treated South Africa
as if it were a rogue regime and brought it down in the end by doing
that. In the end, we treated the Duvaliers in Haiti - far too late in
the day but nevertheless - as a rogue regime.
So, I have offered my rather pessimistic view. What does it mean?
Well, Aung San Suu Kyi is ready to negotiate with the military without
any preconditions. In other words, she is ready to engage in a strategic
risk, which I think is a very reasonable position. She is not merely
ready to talk about nuts and bolts. She is willing to talk about the big
picture with them - if they are willing to do that.
Equally, I think that the proposition made by the United Nations special
representative De Soto in 1998, that he would coordinate one billion
dollars of assistance in exchange for some positive initiatives from the
military, is also a very reasonable strategy. If you could actually get
that kind of agreement, a big agreement, then things would move in a
relatively big way. But in spite of offering enough money for all of
them to go to Switzerland for the rest of their lives, or wherever they
want to go, there is no response. Nothing is happening. Because that
isn't the essence of why they are there. The corruption of this regime
is so profound that it is impossible to imagine how one could construct
a step by step rational management process towards normalization.
You know, John Humphrey said about the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, "There has never been a more revolutionary development in the
theory and practice of international law and organization than the
recognition that human rights are matters of international concern.
Revolutionary, strategic. Soon we are going to have an International
Criminal Court, active and capable of dealing with issues and with
people who resemble in many ways those who are in power in Burma. It
would be perhaps possible to apply the rules of that court to some of
those members of the Burmese junta. To apply the court to these people
would be a strategic approach. To offer them a billion dollars in return
for some sort of movement would be a strategic approach.
I believe that what we have to do is to avoid at all costs the classic
temptation of Western countries, avoid the comfortable trap of the
Western approach, according to which we believe that all situations are
susceptible to detailed management. In other words, are susceptible to
tactics. You know, sometimes tactics are really aimed at the self esteem
of the people who initiate the tactics, not at the real situation.
Sometimes tactics, while reassuring, will actually undermine the very
strategy they are designed to serve. I have always sensed that progress
in Burma would come from a strategic long-term and extremely tough
approach. And that tactics
would backfire.
I feel this is the message, the real message of people like Dr. Cynthia
Maung and Min Ko Naing. We must engage ourselves, but we must also
accept that there do exist juntas - or to be more precise, rogue regimes
- that resist other nation's logic and international laws. There aren't
many in Asia, but there are some. And in these particular cases, we must
think and act in a different way, aware that we are dealing with a long
term and a risky situation. That's why the jury has recognized the
engagement of Dr. Cynthia Maung and Min Ko Naing, by presenting them
with the John Humphrey Freedom Award.
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